Was Brazil a "serious country" destined to be a great
power, or was it always to remain a land of the future?
There are no simple answers.
By ALEXA FUTTERWEIT
The fifth largest country in the world, Brazil is the largest country in Latin America and
has territory slightly larger than that of the continental United States. With 80 percent of
its population living in cities and towns, Brazil is one of the most urbanized and
industrialized countries in Latin America.
Brazil stands out for its regional and social disparities. Brazil is noted for having one of
the most unequal income distributions of any
country. In the rural Northeast, there is
poverty similar to that found in some African
and Asian countries. Although increased
urbanization has accompanied economic
development, it also has created serious social
problems in the cities.
While in many ways this diversity or heterogeneity makes it similar to other developing
countries in Latin America and elsewhere, Brazil is also unique. One of the fascinating
elements of this uniqueness is that it is different things at once, presenting different faces
or identities of a single coherent whole. Both local and foreign perceptions of Brazil tend
to exaggerate particular features, lack a balanced view, and fail to grasp how the parts of
the whole fit together. During the twentieth century, for example, the country was
considered a tropical paradise famed for its exports (coffee), music, and soccer, as well as
the nearly mythical Amazon rain forest. On a more serious level, Brazil often was
disparaged for its inability to solve basic political and economic problems, such as
consolidating democratic institutions, controlling runaway inflation, and servicing the
foreign debt. However, the nation is noted for being an emerging industrial power and for
constructing giant public works, such as the new capital city of Brasília, the Trans­
Amazonian Highway, and the world's largest hydroelectric dam (Itaipu). Brazil also
stands out for its leadership role in Latin America and the developing world.
Most Brazilians saw the military regime of 1964­85 as a repressive dictatorship, although
others regarded it as having saved the country from communism. Brazilian society was
viewed as conservative and male opinionated, yet simultaneously freewheeling or even
immoral, as revealed in its Carnival festivities. In the 1980s, much of the world saw the
Amazon, the world's greatest store of biodiversity, and its native peoples as falling victim
to unparalleled destruction.